Woman being chased by Telstra’s debt collectors despite never being a customer

Best Three: Telstra customers complain away2:08

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March 23rd 2016

2 years ago

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A former privacy lawyer says she is being pursued by Telstra debt collectors despite never being a customer. Picture: Carla GottgensSource:Bloomberg

WHEN Sydney-based woman Charlotte checked her voicemail messages a few weeks ago, she was shocked to learn she was being pursued by debt collectors on behalf of Telstra.

She was surprised for two reasons: because she didn’t have any outstanding debts, and she had never been a Telstra customer.

“It was only $400 but I’ve never had a Telstra account,” she told news.com.au. “Dun & Bradstreet, Telstra’s debt collection agency are now chasing me. Until now, I had a completely clean credit history.”

It appears someone was able to set up a Telstra account using her name, date of birth and an old home address which she hasn’t occupied for 18 months.

A driver’s license number on the account did not match Charlotte’s, and was quite possibly fraudulent.

A former privacy lawyer, Charlotte is guarded about her personal information and as such didn’t want her surname published but felt compelled to share her story to highlight the potential harm caused by what she called “insufficient ID checks” by service providers like Telstra.

She was also reluctant to hand over large amounts of personal information to Telstra via e-mail like the telco requested in order to have the issue sorted out.

“If we can confirm that you have no knowledge of the acquisition of the account, you will be advised to provide necessary documents for the investigation,” she was told by a Telstra employee in an e-mail exchange seen by news.com.au.

Charlotte was told she needed to supply documents including a police report and a statutory declaration signed by a justice of the peace stating she is not liable for the debt, as well as a raft of identification documents. But the busy mum doesn’t understand why she has to go to so much effort when she’s never even been a Telstra customer.

“I don’t really know why the police should be involved,” she said. “I don’t think the onus should be on me. They need to set up their accounts properly with legitimate identification.”

While the debt remains outstanding, Charlotte has been assigned a case worker after writing to the head of customer service, Fiona Hayes. She also plans on filing a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner over the handling of her information.

Despite not holding an account with the carrier, her story is similar to many telco customers who have had their lives turned upside down by inadequate ID checks.

In February, news.com.au reported on the ordeal of Gold Coast woman Angela McCarthy who received a $2093 bill after a customer with the same name ordered two new iPhones. It seemed a Telstra employee hadn’t performed the proper identity checks and somehow the billing got sent to the wrong Angela McCarthy.

She was also referred to the police who at one point were prepared to execute a search warrant before Telstra admitted to their error.

A former detective inspector for the Queensland police turned professor at Bond University has been researching the issue of fraudulent mobile porting and says “the actual offence numbers are getting diluted.

All telcos operating in Australia are bound by privacy laws and industry standards. For it’s part, Telstra says it is working to shore up preventive measures when it comes to cases like the above.

“We recognise the threat level is changing given the increased availability of individual’s personal information (eg, date of birth) on social media and other open platforms. In order to meet this challenge, we are working to strengthen our identification and verification procedures even further,” a spokesperson said in June.

“We take customer privacy seriously and we are continually reviewing our processes to ensure we are doing all we can to protect customers from this type of malicious activity,” the company wrote in a blog post at the time.

A Telstra spokesman told news.com.au the telco was “working with the customer to resolve the issue”.

“We ... have asked Dun and Bradstreet not to take any further action on this account while we review the situation.

“In order for someone to establish an account with Telstra, they need to prove their identity. We require 100 points of ID, including at least one form of primary identification, such as a Drivers Licence or Passport, and at least one form of secondary identification such as a Medicare card or Student ID.

“Telstra only ever refers outstanding customer debts to third parties after a long process to provide customers with repeated opportunities to pay their bills. We also offer flexible payment terms and options for customers experiencing genuine financial difficulties.”